


On My Own

by Renai_chan



Series: Ethos of Trust [8]
Category: Captain America (Movies), Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: M/M, Obi is a manipulative dick, a tiny bit of my suit porn kink is showing, and he's good at it
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-08-05
Updated: 2013-08-05
Packaged: 2017-12-22 13:55:07
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,893
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/913978
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Renai_chan/pseuds/Renai_chan
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Bucky encounters problems at Stark Industries, and Obadiah helps him out.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On My Own

**Author's Note:**

> Okay, so I wrote out of turn again. This fic happens about the same time as "If It Were You"; it explains what happened when Bucky came to visit SI for the first time.
> 
> Just a short fic written in the space of four hours.

Bucky tugged at his leather jacket once, ran his fingers through his hair, and heaved a sigh. It was his first time out and about all by himself, and he had decided that it would best be spent by surprising his lovers at their workplace, precisely for the reason of freaking them the fuck out—or more exactly, freaking  _Steve (_ who was of the firm opinion that Bucky needed assistance fucking  _everywhere_ in light of his ice nap and injury)the fuck out. 

 

Steve could be such a mother hen sometimes, and it did him good to be put in his place every once in a while, so Bucky ditched his babysitters at the mansion and made his way through Manhattan by subway.

 

Stark tower loomed above him where he stood in front of already-impressive the lobby doors. Around him, people rushed and jostled by, caring about him only in that he impeded them from getting to their destination a split second faster. New York had changed so much since he was last conscious, but this part—people rushing about with destinations and goals but no purpose—it remained the same.

 

With a deep breath, he started into the towers, nodding briefly at the doorman who held the doors open for him (and several other people). He followed a small crowd to the elevators and onto one before suddenly realizing that he had no idea where to go. With not a little amount of trepidation, he squeezed through the tight pack of people and hit the button for the top floor which was one of the few left unlit, figuring as head honchos of the company, Steve and Tony would occupy offices on the top floor. Gazes bore down on him, both curious and suspicious at the action, but no one said a word as the elevator brought them to their destinations.

 

The last person besides him alighted, and Bucky was left alone for a few seconds until the elevator bell dinged and opened up onto his chosen floor. He stepped out, trepidation growing as he realized that he was in one of the most impressive lobbies he had ever seen. 

 

The ceiling vaulted three stories high, and brightly lit crystal chandeliers hung from it. Several sofa sets and marble statues decorated the sides of the room, and a carpet ran through the middle, leading from the elevator to the reception desk. Several sets of inquiring eyes found him as soon as he stepped foot on the carpet, so Bucky really had no choice but to follow it to the desk.

 

"Hi," he greeted the receptionist hesitantly. She glanced up and gave him a once-over, and her mouth settled into a small frown.

 

"Can I help you?" Her tone was icy, and it made Bucky fidget.

 

"Yeah, I, uh... I'm looking for Tony Stark or Steve Rogers?" he said. Her frowned deepened.

 

"Do you have an appointment, sir?" she asked. And that was the point Bucky realized he might be fucked.

 

"I, uh... no. I don't have an appointment, but I'm pretty sure they'll see me. Could you just let them know James Barnes is here?"

 

"I'm afraid that's not possible, sir," the receptionist said carefully. "Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers will only see people with appointments." Her tone gave Bucky the impression that she thought he was an unsavory character, and given that he was wearing a leather jacket and ripped jeans, he couldn't blame her. This plan really wasn't well thought out. 

 

"Okay... Well, can you set one for me as early as possible today?" She stared at him like he was crazy.

 

"The next available period for Mr. Stark is in two weeks, and Mr. Rogers a month from today." Bucky balked. Two weeks? A  _month_? They were _that_  busy?

 

"Oh... Well, can I just make a quick call instead?" he asked. Maybe he could just leave a message for them to come find him.

 

"Sir, the public payphones are located on the main level of the building, just beside the bathrooms," she answered testily. "If you would like to reach either of them, you will have to go through the proper channels."

 

"Err... Can I leave a message instead? Or I could just wait for them here. I'm pretty sure they're free for lunch," he said. The receptionist finally stood and leveled a hard look at him.

 

"Sir, I'm going to have to ask you to state your business with Mr. Stark and Mr. Rogers, or else I'm going to have to ask you to leave." Bucky's hackles rose at that, and it was irrational. He knew it was irrational because she was only doing her job. God knew how many people came in everyday, hoping to get an audience with Tony and Steve, many of them likely nosy reporters, and so her hostility was only justified, but Bucky still felt oddly angry at being denied his right to them, even if unknowingly.

 

"Look, lady. I'm telling you they know me and that they're going to want to see me. Now, I'm trying to be polite by asking you to just leave a fucking message, telling them that James Barnes is here—"

 

"There's no need for that kind of language, sir," she said, a tremor in her voice that indicated a small degree of fear.

 

"Then  _do your damn job_  and let me see Tony or Steve," he demanded, banging a fist on the countertop for effect. It was a bit excessive, really, scaring the girl like that, so he should have expected the hands that grabbed him and started dragging him away from the desk. "Hey!" he cried anyway against the grasp of the two beefy security guards. "Fuck you, just tell either of them Bucky is here!"

 

"Stop," suddenly came an order so calm and quiet that it should not have frozen the guards as it did. Bucky turned to see an older, distinguished gentleman standing in one of the doorways off to the side of the reception desk. He was a big man, impeccably dressed, neatly styled brown hair and a matching mustache and beard. "Let him go," the man said in that same even voice. "I'll take care of him," he told both guards and the receptionist.

 

"But, Mr. Stane—" the girl protested shortly, but Stane held up a hand to silence her.

 

"Thank you, Elaine, but it's quite alright," he said, so she only nodded. Stane then turned his attention to Bucky and held out a hand. "Mr. Barnes, is it? If you'll follow me?" Bucky stared at him for a second longer. 

 

He knew about Stane, of course he did; Steve and Tony had given him two different perspectives about Howard's friend. It was Steve's perspective that put him on edge because he'd never known Steve to hold an ounce of hostility to anyone, save those who deserved to be at the other end of his shield, but it was Tony's perspective that made Bucky rip his arms free of the guards' grasp and follow Stane through the doorway. 

 

At the very least, he decided, he was sure Stane could get him an audience with his lovers.

 

Stane led him through a hallway and a set of doors which Bucky presumed led to his office, but it only opened into a spacious and bright receiving room, not unlike the parlors in the mansion. The executive gestured towards one of the sofas in the lounge area, inviting Bucky for a sit, and called to one of the secretaries.

 

"Two coffees please, for myself and Mr. Barnes," he said, then turned to Bucky. "Any preferences?"

 

"Uhh, black, two sugars," he answered. Stane smiled.

 

"You know what I like, Alicia. And bring us some of those cranberry scones as well, thank you." Alicia left with a polite nod. "I have to say," Stane started, refocusing his attention back to Bucky. "We haven't been properly introduced, I believe, but it's a pleasure to have finally met you." There was an earnestness in his tone that confused Bucky for a bit because he couldn't understand why Steve would hate a person so genuinely polite. "Obadiah Stane," he held out a hand to shake. "A long-time associate and friend of Howard Stark." Bucky took his hand and shook it.

 

"Bucky Barnes. An old friend of Steve's," he responded in kind. Stane grinned as though he and Bucky shared a secret. He tapped the side of his nose, and Bucky knew that he knew. "Yeah." He willed a blush away. "And that too."

 

"Well, that's just another thing I'll have to envy Steve for, yeah?" he said in a wistful, playful tone before shifting tracks. "So how have you been finding everyone so far? Howard and Tony can be a bit hard to swallow at times, and I know that Steve is just plain overbearing. I'm sure Maria is a peach, though." Bucky nodded in agreement.

 

"She is amazing, and superhuman if she managed to stand Howard for that long," he chuckled. "How the bastard managed to convince her to bond, I'll never know." Stane laughed.

 

"I'll let you in on a secret," he said in a loud whisper that implied teasing. "It has to do with his big wallet and his big..." Then he gave a wink that made Bucky laugh. Alicia arrived not long afterward with the coffees and scones and set them down on the table.

 

"Is there anything else I can get you?" she asked pleasantly. Stane shook his head and Bucky replied with a 'no, thank you.' They sipped at their coffees while she shut the door behind her, and Bucky tried one of the scones.

 

"Steve and Tony are both in meetings right now, very important and very boring, I'm afraid," Stane thought to tell him. "I'm surprised to see you here, though, I would have thought you'd be in lockdown in the mansion." Bucky gave a moue in agreement.

 

"I  _was_ ," he said. "But now I'm not." Stane chuckled. "There's only so much of Howard Stark a single person can stand in a given time period, and I'm almost at my limit. That and because I'm not the invalid everyone seems to think I am."

 

"Oh I'm sure no one thinks that," Stane said with a wave of his hand. Bucky shook his head.

 

"I know they're trying to be tactful and careful about it, but they're pussyfooting, really," he shrugged. "I know I'm not in the 40s anymore, I know things have changed so much, but I'm just glad to be back and have all the things I would have likely lost, and more, my arm non-withstanding that is."

 

"A rather pragmatic approach," Stane tipped his cup in Bucky's direction. The ex-soldier shrugged.

 

"I have my Dom back. That in itself would be enough to lay every one of my sorrows to rest," he replied. Stane looked thoughtful.

 

"Yes, but now you have to share him with someone else. With Tony," he pointed out, and Bucky paused.

 

"I know," he said, a little more quietly after a while. Stane hummed thoughtfully.

 

"And everything is alright on that front, I hope?" he said and sipped at his coffee quickly afterwards. 

 

"It's... new," Bucky eventually decided. "And Tony's great. Really." A beat. "And creative, so there's that." They shared a laugh, but Bucky didn't feel as that into it as before. Stane sipped his coffee again, and a thoughtful silence passed between them before Stane set his cup down decidedly on the table. He leaned closer to Bucky and put a hand on his knee. It was nothing more than a gesture of goodwill, and Bucky knew that.

 

"I'll have to be going in a bit. I was only really just free for coffee," the older man said, and Bucky nodded in silent thanks for the help and company. "I know Steve and I don't have the best of relationships," Stane continued, "but I'm glad that you gave me a chance for a bit of a chat. It was enjoyable, truly." Bucky nodded again and gave him a small smile. "I hope you don't mind if I leave you with a bit of advice?" Stane continued further. Bucky shrugged because advice couldn't hurt right?

 

"Your relationship with the two of them is complicated, and I can't presume to understand the workings of it," Stane said. "But what I  _am_  sure of is that you shouldn't be selling yourself short. You shouldn't settle for anything less than you want, and a good Dom knows that no sub should receive less than that." Bucky frowned because Stane's words implied he thought Steve did precisely opposite that.

 

"I  _don't_  settle," he thought to say. "I have one more person in my life who makes it that much brighter than other people have for themselves. How could I not want that?" Stane stared at him, squeezed his knee and then stood up.

 

"Then I'm happy for you," he said, smiled and then left. Bucky watched the door shut behind Stane and frowned a little bit more.

 

He and Tony were a new thing, and admittedly, not completely voluntary on either of their parts. In a perfect world, if Tony hadn't been there at all, he would have still been just as ecstatic about having Steve alone.

 

But did Tony detract from that?

 

He tried thinking on the time when he had first kissed the younger man. Tony had been startled and maybe a little bit indignant, so it wasn't the bone-melting kiss he and Steve always shared. But then he had opened up to Bucky and became willing and pliant, and their kiss turned heated and delicious.

 

And then the next day, Tony had come to visit him to presumably talk about their little arrangement, but Bucky was never a fan of talking. Instead, he wanted to see more of that willing, pliant Tony--preferably writhing beneath him, and Tony hadn't disappointed. At all. Even the time after that and the time after  _that_. He hadn't been joking, after all, when he'd said Tony was  _creative_.

 

So no. Tony didn't detract at all. Maybe they still had to catch up, but all in all, Bucky found he was looking forward to it. He was.

 

Really.

 

He set his cup back down on the desk and made his way to the window to peer out of it. He had never been this far up before. The Empire State building, the tallest building back in the day, had an observation deck open to the public, but Bucky had never gone up due to its entrance fee. And missions on top of mountains didn't count, he thought.

 

He glanced down to peer at the street and tried not to roil back in fear. It was hard to swallow that only a glass pane stood between him and certain death, and at that thought, he stepped back further into the room, unwilling to test the limits of said fear. He didn't get far when he heard the door open behind him, and he whirled around to Steve standing there looking far more stunned than Bucky did.

 

"Surprise?" Bucky said sheepishly anyway.

 

"Darla, my secretary, told me you were here," Steve said with a sigh, shutting the door behind him and starting toward the sub. Bucky, without prompting, met him halfway into the room, greedily asking for a kiss that Steve didn't hesitate to grant, but tried to end it after a few moments. The former sniper only held on by flicking his tongue over Steve lips and parting his own for the Dom, so Steve moaned softly, cupped the back of his neck and tilted his head up for a proper, bone-melting kiss. "You were supposed to stay at home," he scolded him half-heartedly, so Bucky pushed his luck by smirking and pressing against him.

 

"Yeah, well, I got bored," he answered, and Steve laughed.

 

"The mansion has no less than two swimming pools, a game room, a movie theater, a tennis court, a fully-equipped gym and state of the art computer technology. I cannot  _understand_ how you can still be bored," he said. Bucky gave him a wink and trailed a finger down his chest seductively.

 

"Well, maybe that's not the kind of... entertainment I'm looking for," he answered and then kissed Steve's chest through his suit. And how crazy was that to see Steve in a suit that cost more than everything Bucky had ever earned in his lifetime? It kind of made him want to crawl onto Steve's lap and be fucked while he wore it. He told Steve so.

 

"Jesus," Steve moaned, awe and just a little bit of glee in his tone. "I've got two more meetings right now before I was supposed to go for lunch." Bucky dropped his eyes and shifted backward slightly.

 

"Oh," he said in a deliberately disappointed tone, and hid a grin when Steve pulled him back into his arms. "I suppose I could just go home then." And he had to work harder at hiding his grin when Steve tipped his chin up and kissed him thoroughly. 

 

"I can push them back," Steve conceded through the kiss. Bucky moaned.

 

"Mmm... Does that mean you'll let me suck your cock beneath your desk?"

 

"Cheeky," Steve said and kissed his forehead. "But, yes."


End file.
